A solo traveller wants to wild camp in the Algerian Sahara, a young couple is looking to book a wine tasting tour, and a resident is opting for a staycation. Each visitor’s interests in the Middle East are different, but one thing stays the same: they all want a personal experience.
It would be easy enough for a marketer to secure a conversion from each of these travellers. But does a single booking really reflect true impact?
Real growth comes from delivering better stays, unlocking more value across the course of the trip, encouraging repeat visits in future years, and maximising loyalty from residents who may return dozens of times. Travel is a particularly interesting category because the upside is exponential when businesses can distinguish, personalise and adapt to each individual guest. That is why personalisation should be something marketers grab by the horns.
The reality, though, is that many marketers still fixate on conversions, often with a narrow focus on digital touchpoints. This creates blind spots. Dining, for example, is a lucrative revenue stream for hotels, but how much do they really know about who sits down at their restaurants? Loyalty apps help to bridge the gap, but if a diner forgets to scan their QR code, the entire interaction slips through the cracks. The same issue plays out at the booking stage, where a traveller might browse heavily yet walk in without reserving, or book online and then never show up.
If all you’re measuring is conversions, and all you’re looking at is online behaviour, you don’t have the full picture. These gaps are the first challenge to solve. Marketers need to start with the groundwork: identifying the low-hanging fruit, mapping the whole journey, and asking whether they even have a complete view of the customer experience across touchpoints. Only then can they move closer to the individual.
Remove the friction
The simplest fix is to handle reservations, billing and loyalty recognition through the same digital framework used for hotel bookings. Guests won’t need to do anything extra, while businesses can capture and nurture every interaction. Linking confirmed stays and in-person activity back to digital records allows hotels to focus on actual value, not just intent.
This is where powerful, connected identity resolution can help connect the dots across all channels and interactions. Without a unified view of their customers, even the most sophisticated campaigns risk missing the mark.
Hit guests with exactly what they want
Once these building blocks are in place, marketers can segment each audience and personalise offers via email, app and SMS before and during a guest’s stay. They can detarget flight ads, for example, and shift focus to relevant upsells, like local experiences or tailored itineraries. Think of the wine tasting couple who might respond to a cooking class invitation or the local who wants to discover a new lunch spot off the beaten track.
This boosts value without driving up media spend, while ensuring every interaction stays purposeful and timely. Atlantis the Royal delivers this well, tailoring rooms for repeat guests or special occasions, and greeting loyalty app customers by name whenever they visit one of its restaurants.
Tap into data across the ecosystem
The real breakthrough comes when a hospitality business connects its own data with signals from airlines and tourism boards. It opens up entirely new addressable audiences. Hotels can reach travellers at the right moment with offers that feel relevant, like a last-minute spa treatment for a guest landing on an early flight booked directly with the airline.
Just as retailers allow brands to activate against their shopper base in controlled ways, the tourism board or airline’s customer base becomes addressable by hospitality businesses in a privacy-safe, mutually beneficial framework.
In practice, this might mean a central data repository within a Customer Data Platform (CDP), giving the tourist board a unified view of its customers both domestically and internationally. The value lies in the signals. For example, a UK traveller booking a partner airline flight provides confirmation that awareness is already established, allowing hotels and attractions to skip broad awareness ads and instead push performance-focused offers like ‘Book the Veuve Clicquot Desert Experience’ or ‘Reserve your table at Atlantis’.
In a world of endless travel options, and travel spending in the Middle East projected to reach nearly $350bn by 2030 according to Arabian Travel Market, standing out through personalisation is essential for long-term success. The hospitality brands that will see bigger returns are those that connect high-quality first-party data to create emotionally resonant campaigns, turning anonymous visitors into loyal guests.
